I pump my legs to catch up to her. She stops suddenly as if she senses someone behind her. I duck behind an ally; I find I'm not ready to announce my presence to her. I pant raggedly, my poor, meek lungs unable to keep up with her strong, healthy lungs. I try to hear over my breathing, to see if she has started running again. I hear nothing. Cautiously I lean my head out and see; nothing. S***! I look wildly around wondering where the hell she went. I begin to feel the tender wisps of dread fill my body. S***! 'S***!' I say finally out loud, needing something to relive the pressuring dread that drowned my body. This was a mistake. I hear footsteps behind me and then feel a resounding crack at the back of my head. I find myself on the ground. I turn my head to see my aggressor. I see a pair of women's Skechers. The Bikers-Tickled sneaker model; with leather upper suede in a casual sneaker style, with side stripes and bold S logo detail. I also know that it has a cushioned insole, and traction outsole; these details however are not known by looking at them. I try to raise my head up to see the face that has thrown me to the ground. I glimpse only blonde hair and red ribbon before the Bikers-Tickled sneaker crashes against the back of my head grating my teeth into the cement. My mind fades in and out of awareness. I feel blood trickling out of my mouth forming a puddle around my face. My eyes are soon blurred with the red, oxygenized blood, and still the pressure does not lift from head, instead I feel my teeth gnash against the ground. I hear cracking and feel pain and know my teeth are breaking. I lay perfectly still holding my breath, desperately holding on to the thin strand of consciousness that I consistently slip my hold on. My only thought is to not die, not like this. For dying like this means failure. Dying like this spells certain doom for Mathew. Mathew can't know, Mathew shouldn't . Mathew. My thoughts are jumbled and make less sense. I silently struggle on. Struggling to make sense of my last scattered thoughts. I lose consciousness. All is black now.